wfn.org | Lutherans Address Food Crisis in Niger, Africa

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 4, 2005

Lutherans Address Food Crisis in Niger, Africa
05-142-MRC

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America (ELCA) are participating in international relief
efforts to address the food crisis in Niger, a country in western
Africa.
     An estimated 3.6 million people -- about 30 percent of the
population of Niger -- are in critical need of food, said Dr.
Belletech Deressa, director for international development and
disaster response, ELCA Division for Global Mission.
     The United Nations reported that more than 800,000 children
in Niger are suffering from hunger and many others show signs of
severe malnutrition, Deressa said.
     The current famine is a result of severe drought and "swarms
of locusts that destroyed crops in 2004," she said.
     On July 29 the United Nations began airlifting 44 tons of
emergency food rations to famine-stricken areas of Niger, Deressa
reported.  Lutheran World Relief -- the Baltimore-based overseas
relief and development organization working on behalf of the ELCA
and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod -- "has been supporting
its local partners in Niger for many years," she said.
     Through the church's International Disaster Response,
members of the ELCA sent $40,000 as an initial response to an
emergency appeal issued by Action by Churches Together -- a
worldwide network of churches and related agencies that meets
human need through organized emergency response.  It is based
with the World Council of Churches and the Lutheran World
Federation, both in Geneva, Switzerland.
     Coordinated by the ELCA Division for Global Mission,
International Disaster Response often channels its funds through
international church organizations and relief agencies.  Funds
provide for food, medicine, drinking water, emergency shelter and
other materials for survivors of disasters.
     "We ask members of the ELCA to pray for people affected by
the famine in Niger and to pray for rain that enables farmers in
Niger to produce food for their families," said Deressa.  "We
pray for Lutherans to give to the ELCA International Disaster
Response and ELCA World Hunger Appeal."
- - -
INTERNATIONAL DISASTERS:
Editors: When listing organizations receiving funds for aid to
survivors of major disasters outside the United States, Puerto
Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands, please include:
ELCA International Disaster Response,
PO Box 71764, Chicago, IL 60694-1764
1-800-638-3522 and
http://www.ELCA.org/disaster/idrgive on the Internet.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news